Future articles:
•  How and why the tape of Bin Laden was made.
•  A look at the potential of civil war in Iraq.
•  Analysis of Intelligence prior to Iraq War.
•  Pin the terrorism tail on the Syrian Donkey.

© 2005 Maher Osseiran
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Copying, reproduction, or distribution of this article, is strictly prohibited.
If you wish to link to this page, please click here for a summary of the article that you can post on your website.

My name is Maher Osseiran. I was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1956 and lived there until late 1975.

I lived in Beirut through the early two years of the civil war before leaving to go to Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey.

My stay of 3 years in Turkey was very formative even though unpleasant at times due to the distance from my family and friends. In those days, the telephone and mail services to Lebanon ceased to function due to the civil war and there was no email, satellite, or cable TV. I had to rely on my short wave radio for the news and luckily I had a good one.

In order to reach a certain level of inner peace or control, I had to piece together the news to create a picture for myself, as accurate as possible, in order to assess the risk that my parents and friends were facing; the lower the risk, the better I slept and studied. I guess I got quite good at it and developed a good analytical ability.

Right now, I live in the United States, divorced, and a father of a wonderful child that I love dearly and see as often as I can.

I would hate to call it a hobby, but, I do spend a lot of time reading the news for no pay. To me, bits of news are not unrelated items, however small they are; they are always pieces of the big picture. The blessing of a good memory, and, concentrating on specific topics and a region of the world, allows me today to write articles similar to the one you read, and hopefully, the ones you will read.

Future articles will have this in common, they will be based on public domain information, and will try to point trends through past events that might help you predict or understand future ones. Apologies if I sound presumptuous.

The process is fairly simple; after information reaches a critical mass on a certain topic, they are pieced together and tested against assumptions. The assumption that best explains the various pieces and creates the best fit between them and generates a clear picture is then looked at again and a more detailed analysis is performed.

Your comments are always appreciated and will try to work a mechanism to post them.

© 2005 Maher Osseiran                                             Printing is allowed for personal use.
Any copying, reproduction, or distribution of this article is strictly prohibited.
If you wish to link to this page, please click here for a summary of the article that you can post on your website.
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